instead of focusing together and being unified in the person
and work of Jesus Christ.
These ...isms take different forms, so we shall consider
them in five categories (which is certainly not an attempt to
create an ...ism out of ...isms!). As these are very fluid, they
can easily overlap and flow into one another.
(1) ...isms of ideological theories. As previously noted,
many ...isms are formed as ideological constructs of
thought. One of the earliest ...isms confronted by nascent
Christianity was that of Greek Gnosticism, with its
emphasis on the necessity of having a special knowledge of
spiritual mysteries in order to advance into spiritual elitism.
Though the early church rejected this philosophy, they
were somewhat unaware of the extent to which the dualism
of Hellenism and Platonism was affecting Christian
thought. This was evidenced in an arid intellectualism and
rationalism, that later led to scholasticism. The theologism
of doctrinalism and creedalism soon became pervasive.
Christian religion became the advocacy of a belief-system,
assented to by easy-believism. This remains the focus of
ideological fundamentalism and evangelicalism, defending
their epistemological position with the dogmatism of
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